Reconfiguration of Vibro-tactile Feedback Based on Drivers´ Sitting Attitude

The today mainly incorporated sensory modalities vision and hearing are most often highly charged due to an increasing number, as well as a rising complexity of diversified assistance systems in vehicles. These systems, originally developed for "supporting" the driver in its tasks, increasingly directs to operation errors caused by cognitive overload. The sense of touch - as additional interaction channel - should have the ability to release cognitive load from visual and auditory channels by adapting in a natural, intuitive and non-distracting manner. A drawback of haptics is that feedback is reliant to both driver and environmental conditions. For instance, different sizes and weights of drivers\´ result in a changed haptic perceptivity, and vibro-tactile feedback potentially is interpreted erroneous due to personal sitting attitudes. A vibro-tactile seat, endowed with a set of unobtrusive embedded sensors and actuators, is proposed to counter action these issues. The input channel is used for determining the occupied seating surface and, in addition, is also responsible for observing disruptive vibrations, originating in the environment. These information is employed in order to reconfigure vibro-tactile output dynamically with the aim to guarantee consistent haptic perception for any person.